Police investigators believe the off-duty Baltimore police officer, whose name was not released, was in a relationship with a relative of one of the juvenile suspects charged with involuntary manslaughter, sources said.
Two boys, a 12 and 13-year-old, have been charged with shooting the eighth-grade student once in the chest while playing with the rifle on Saturday night before hiding her body under trash bags in an alley.
Monae had left her home in Northest Baltimore earlier that night to go rolling skating with two friends.
Police are trying to find out who owned the gun, which was designed as a replica of an AK-47 assault rifle.
And investigators are now trying to determine whether the suspended police officer advised the juveniles after the shooting occurred.
The victim’s mother and aunt said they are outraged by the new allegations, calling for the officer to be fired and suggesting that police could have found Monae faster.
Edith Turnage, Monae’s mother, told The Baltimore Sun: ‘They need to fire him, not suspend him.
Monae’s family said they knew that one of the suspect’s relatives was involved with a city police officer, and said that if the officer knew anything, he should have notified authorities immediately.
Monae’s relatives have complained that police were not aggressive enough after Edith Turnage called 911 to report her daughter missing, prompting the family to conduct their own search which led to Monae’s 16-year-old brother finding her body.
‘I honestly believe in my heart that had police gone to that address when we reported her missing, and they had searched for her, she might have been found still alive,’ said Monae’s aunt, Patricia Marshall.
Her mother paid tribute to Monae saying: ‘She was a very intelligent young lady, a very pretty young lady, a very outspoken young lady. She wanted to do something with her life.’
She lamented a life lost by ‘somebody she was with, somebody she trusted.’
Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi described the young girl’s death as an ‘unspeakable tragedy,’ one so horrific that seasoned homicide detectives had trouble coping.
Several police officers said they also were angered that the officer’s suspension could further tarnish the agency’s reputation.
In the past year, one officer has been charged with dealing drugs from a station house parking lot and more than a dozen officers have been convicted in a kickback scheme involving a car-repair and towing company.
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